Day of her wedding!

(Conforms with Courtney and Jeremy, this sequence is the 'actual' events.)

'Damn' you think it's the day of Doe' wedding. You remember the events of the last week. With Doe coming over to your apartment. With you and Doe winding up in bed together for the first time.

There's a knock on your door, "Come in."

The door opens and your mother walks in. "John, how are you feeling? You've been drinking a lot the last week and...I'm worried."

You stare at your mother's thick black hair for a second, the dream still fresh in your memory. You shake yourself back to the present, "Yeah I'm fine. Just a little worked up is all."

"Is...is it about Doe?" Your mother asks. "She's been calling the whole week, asking for you. You've not talked to her or returned her calls. She's your best friend. Each call gets more and more ****."

You think it through for a second, and decide that, since in your dream you told no one about what happened, you are going to change that right now. "Last week she came over to my apartment. We were talking. She was concerned that Hank wasn't, isn't the one for her. One thing led to another and..." You shrug, "I had thought that...that..."

"That it was finally your time to be happy? To make her happy. What happened? Is that why you came back here for the last three days?" Francine Jones asked, her eyes understanding and caring.

You nod, "Yes. I woke up the next morning and she wasn't there. She had left me in my bed. No note, nothing, she was just gone. I thought that maybe I had taken advantage of her in our drunken stupor. That she woke up consumed with guilt. Or that I wasn't good in the sack." You answer, flushing a little at the end.

Your mother chuckles, "You're a grown man of twenty seven, you don't have to be ashamed of what you have done. Besides that you were the quarterback on the state championship team in high school. You really think I thought you were still a virgin?"

"Actually...I didn't lose my virginity until college. Doe kept saying my girlfriends weren't good enough for something like that. It didn't hit me at the time that whenever I asked who she thought was good enough for it she would change the subject."

You mother looks surprised, "Really?" She walks over to sit on your bed, she pats the bed beside her. Taking the hint you sit next to your mother, "You didn't realize that she wanted you to lose your virginity with her?"

"No. We were always just great friends. At the time it didn't occur to me. When I talked to her on the phone the day after I lost it and told her, she was silent for long enough for me to think she had just hung up. When she finally did speak I could tell she was hurt. I didn't know why."

Francine shakes her head, "Well, my son, you have a couple options still. You can call her right now. It's early enough for you to get to her. You can wait until the ceremony and stand during the objection part. Or...you can live your life kicking yourself for having not seen the signs of her love for you. Something that everyone else in town knew."

"What?"

"Yes, there is actually a pool going around. Your father and I already lost. We picked sixteen."

"What?

"No one picked never, by the way. And another thing, your father's met Hank. He doesn't like him in the least. His best explanation was that he felt Hank was to insecure. He needs to be in control. And your father thinks that Doe is too independent to just follow his lead on things. So again. You have a decision to make here, John. You have to chose the right one, no matter what. And then go on with it. Whether it's to live your life with the 'What If?' Syndrome, or throw your chips into the center and go and try and break the house. Whatever your decision, your father and I will support you."

With that your mother gets up and walks out of your room, closing the door behind her. Leaving you to make a decision.